Amid maintenance challenges and a stark necessity for operational amphibious warships, the United States Navy and Marine Corps are working diligently on long-term solutions to ensure the readiness of their fleets.

At the Modern Day Marine symposium in Washington, D.C., officials from both services addressed the current state of their amphibious ships and the steps being taken to rectify the issues at hand.

In the short term, the Navy is grappling with maintenance difficulties of its Wasp-class big-deck amphibious warships and Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships.

These issues have shortened Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) deployments and prompted the Navy and Marine Corps to seek interim arrangements to sustain MEUs at sea.

Navy and Marine Corps leaders are close to finalizing a memorandum of understanding to clearly define amphibious ship readiness standards, as they face maintenance hurdles leading to postponed deployments.

The Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, stressed the importance of working toward an 80 percent readiness target for the fleet of 31 L-class ships, a mix of 21 amphibious transport docks and 10 big-deck amphibious assault ships.

Gen. Eric Smith emphasized the significance of achieving this readiness goal, stating, “We have to get back to a three to make one readiness rate, where we have three ARG/[Marine Expeditionary Units] with the full up round ships. We’ve got the Marines. We just need the ships.”

Recent maintenance delays have been profound, with USS Boxer experiencing significant engineering issues, resulting in a much-delayed deployment and a split ARG deployment pattern.

This has hampered the Navy’s ability to participate in key exercises like the annual Balikatan with the Philippines. The Marine Corps generals at the symposium pointed to the aging fleet and the urgency of the ongoing work on the agreement.

Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl remarked, “We have over 20 years of operations in the Middle East and [U.S. Central Command]. We’ve ground our forces up pretty good…and now we’re paying for it.”

This situation was compounded when an incident involving two Navy air-cushioned landing craft (LCACs) off Florida left 30 sailors and Marines with injuries, demonstrating the increasing demands on the Navy’s amphibious capabilities.

The Pentagon’s plan to reduce the amphibious fleet below the critical number of 31 ships in fiscal 2024 has raised concerns within the Marine Corps about being able to respond to global crises adequately.

Gen. Roger Turner expressed apprehension over the “razor-thin capacity” of amphibious ships, emphasizing the lack of capacity to react during emergencies.

Despite these challenges, Navy and Marine Corps officials see a multi-ship buy of San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks and one America-class amphibious assault ship as a potential strategy to generate significant cost savings.

This could net approximately $900 million in savings, a point underscored by Navy acquisition executive Nickolas Guertin and Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl during a House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee hearing.

Relevant articles:
– Term Fixes for Amphibious Warship Shortages, USNI News
– 30 Sailors, Marines Injured in LCAC ‘Incident’ During Wasp ARG, 24th MEU Training Off Florida, USNI News
– Marines want 31 amphibious ships. The Pentagon disagrees. Now what?, Defense News
– ship amphib buy could net $900M in savings, say Navy, Marine Corps officials, Breaking Defense